Xbox One top selling US console last month, but PS4 remains ahead cumulatively

The PlayStation 4 might be outselling the Xbox One globally, but last month in the US Microsoft was the undisputed king of the games console.

Research firm NPD Group released sales figures for consoles in December (which Microsoft shared), that showed the Xbox One sold 908,000 units during December, making it the number ones games console in the US. And that’s not the only good news for Microsoft.

The Xbox 360 sold 643,000 units, which puts it in third place behind the PS4, meaning Microsoft has the top two selling consoles for each generation. Combined, Xbox consoles sold over 1.5 million in the US in a single month.

Sony didn’t release NPD’s sales figures for its console, but SCE's Director of Corporate Communications, Dan Race, did have this to say: "According to the latest NPD report, PlayStation 4 remains the cumulative leader for next-gen console sales in the US since its launch on November 15. We sold every PS4 available at retail in the US and were out of stock in December due to overwhelming consumer demand".

He also added: "With more than 4.2 million PS4 systems sold worldwide, it’s clear that the PS4′s gaming and entertainment features are resonating with large audiences and we’re doing our best to provide additional inventory in all of the 53 countries where it’s available".

So while Microsoft is claiming a victory, Sony is effectively saying, "you only beat us because we didn't have any consoles to sell".

As I pointed out previously, early sales numbers really don't mean all that much, and we won't have a clear idea of which console is actually selling the best until supply chain issues and the like have been ironed out and the playing field becomes more level.